


a cookie a day

by thespacenico



Series: klancemas 2018 [17]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Allura is homesick, F/F, First Date, M/M, Sort Of, actual communication??? what???, cookie decorating, it's canon!!!, keith is (sometimes) good at talking to people, keith is an artist!!!, krolia and coran and romelle make an appearance!, krolia is an all-knowing mother, our boys have a little stuff to talk about, they're on a mission to make her feel better
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-02
Updated: 2019-01-02
Packaged: 2019-10-02 17:23:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,372
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17268278
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thespacenico/pseuds/thespacenico
Summary: klancemas day seventeen: decorations





	a cookie a day

**Author's Note:**

> some softness ahead! this one kind of delves into a number of different things? i wish i could spend more time on each of them individually, but anyway it is what it is

**lancey lance > Keith K  
**December 17th, 12:22 AM

 **lancey lance:** okay i have a question  
assuming that ur still awake that is

 **Keith K:** i am  
what is it?

 **lancey lance:** well okay  
does this mean that every time u sent me a smiley face  
u were flirting with me???

 **Keith K:** oh god  
that’s bad isn’t it i knew it was bad  
you said it was cute the first time so i just kept doing it

 **lancey lance:** no i didn’t say it was bad!!!  
it is cute sldlfksj  
i just feel kinda dumb i thought you were just trying to be nice

 **Keith K:** oh  
i mean  
to be fair i didn’t even know i liked you yet

 **lancey lance:** wait  
so u only just recently started liking me??

 **Keith K:** wait no  
nonono  
that’s not true  
i mean it kind of is but  
oh my god

 **lancey lance:** come to my room?

 **Keith K:** okay

 

Lance is sitting criss-cross on his bed when Keith sneaks across the hallway and pokes his head through the door. He smiles when he sees him. “Hey,” he whispers.

Keith bites his lip as he smiles back. “Hi.” He can feel Lance watching him as he slips inside and quietly closes the door behind him before crossing the room. Lance pats the space in front of him, and Keith cautiously climbs onto the bed and adjusts to match Lance, before he realizes—

“You’re wearing my hoodie again.”

Lance’s cheeks turn the slightest shade of pink. “You said I could hold onto it.”

“I know.” Keith ducks his head a little. “I’m glad you did.”

“Stop trying to woo me with your charm,” Lance huffs, and Keith opens his mouth to protest but Lance cuts him off. “You’re changing the subject.”

“What subject—”

Lance shoots him a teasing grin. “The fact that you only just started liking me.”

Keith feels his cheeks flush a little. “No! I told you, I just—it’s not like that.”

Lance hums. “Then what’s it like?”

“It’s—” Keith lets out a breath and glances away. “—complicated.”

Lance squints at him, but he looks more amused than anything. “Complicated?”

He raises an eyebrow expectantly when Keith looks back at him. He clears his throat. “Well—I mean, like—” He picks at a loose thread on the bed. “Everyone else knew before I did. It just—took me a while to figure it out.”

“Then you _did_ like me before we came.”

Keith chews at his lip. He wasn’t really expecting to have a conversation like this so soon. “I—think I have for a really long time,” he admits shyly, peeking up at Lance to gauge his reaction. “But there was always something in the way, I guess.”

Lance leans back on his hands. “What do you mean?”

“Um…” Keith shifts a little. “As in stuff like—I might have still thought you liked Allura until like a week ago.”

Lance almost falls over. _“What?”_

“How was I supposed to know?” Keith cries defensively. “You liked her for so long and you guys are still so close and I just assumed—”

 _“That’s_ how you knew we’d been talking about you!” Lance interrupts, pointing an accusatory finger at him. “Because you went to her to talk about _me,_ didn’t you?”

Keith stares at him. “Maybe,” he mumbles.

Lance slides a hand down his face. “And you still didn’t figure out that I like you?”

“Was I supposed to?”

“Literally everyone else knows! Hunk and Pidge have been torturing me the entire time we’ve been here.”

Keith blinks at him. “Wait. Really?”

“They give me those _looks_ every time you walk in and out of a room,” Lance sighs, and Keith actually laughs a little. “It’s exhausting.”

“At least you didn’t have Adam and Shiro constantly teasing you,” Keith argues.

Lance winces. “They know too?”

Keith squints at him. “You just said earlier that everyone already knows—”

“I wasn’t really thinking about them,” Lance mutters. “Is that weird? Will this be weird—oh no, is Shiro gonna give me the older brother talk? Or will Adam give me the—brother-uncle-dad talk—”

“Brother-uncle-dad?”

“Whatever! Whatever it is that you call him!”

“I don’t call him anything,” Keith protests. “He’s just—Adam.”

Lance gasps. “Oh no, even worse. He’s gonna give me the Adam talk—”

Keith snorts. “No one’s going to give you a talk, Lance.” He shakes his head as Lance lets out a breath of relief and flops onto his back. “Besides, obviously it’s not like they’re going to have a problem with this.”

Lance bites his lip as Keith readjusts to lie on his stomach, propping himself on his elbows to look down at him. “So, speaking of—us.”

Keith’s heart does approximately three backflips. “Us,” he echoes.

“Where exactly does this put us?”

“What do you mean?”

Lance clears his throat and glances away. “You know.” He peeks back up at Keith with a sort of hopeful look in his face. “Like—boyfriends?”

“Yes,” Keith answers immediately, and Lance blinks at him. “I mean—I want to be. If—only if you want to?”

It’s quiet for a second as they just look at each other, and then Lance sits up a little to level with Keith. “And you don’t think we’re doing this too fast?”

Keith has a brief moment of panic. _Oh no. Was that too eager? That was too eager, wasn’t it—maybe he doesn’t want any kind of label yet, maybe he just likes what it is now—what if I’m freaking him out?_

“I—no,” Keith manages. He pauses nervously. “Do you?”

Lance’s mouth turns up into a small smile and he shakes his head. “It took us this long, didn’t it?” He seems to sense Keith’s uneasiness, because his smile falters a little and he rolls over to sit like Keith, propped up on his elbows. “I just—want to make sure I’m not pushing you into anything you don’t want.”

Keith stares at him, and then he turns his head away with a small huff. “You’re always doing that.”

“Doing what?”

He doesn’t say anything for a moment, pulling at his fingers a little. “I know you lied about there only being two pairs of ice skates.”

Lance seems to tense slightly beside him. “Oh.”

“And about Adam mentioning an arcade room at the party.”

“Oh,” Lance repeats, a bit quieter. He shifts a little when Keith doesn’t say anything else. “Is that—”

“You don’t have to do stuff like that for me,” Keith interrupts.  

There’s a short moment of quiet when he turns to look back at Lance, who blinks, and then his mouth quirks up again. “Even though we’re boyfriends now—”

“Especially because we’re—boyfriends now,” Keith cuts in, his cheeks heating. “I just mean—it goes both ways. I don’t want you to feel like you have to do those things.”

“Well—” Lance scratches the back of his neck. “I do it because I want to.” And then he smiles, and Keith’s heart flutters. “Is it too much?”

Keith lets out an exasperated breath. “No, Lance—you don’t have to keep asking me that.”  

“You said it once too!”

“When?”

“Uh, maybe the other night when you were staring into my eyes and then you touched my face and told me you’d ‘always wanted to do that’—”

Keith feels his face go red again. “That was one time! And it was—different!”

“See!” Lance pokes him in the shoulder. “This is what I was talking about. One night you go all soft and the next you’re all discombobulated—”

“It was like two in the morning!” Keith says defensively. “And I was—sick. We were both sick, we were—getting sick.”

Lance hums. “Whatever you say.”

“Look, I just—” Keith swallows, and Lance’s brow creases in quiet concern. “I’m not used to this. I don’t want to mess it up.”

His heart jumps in his chest when Lance shifts closer and pulls his arm toward him, slipping their fingers together. “You’re not gonna mess it up, Keith.”

Keith looks down at their now entwined hands and takes a breath. He’s still half-convinced that he’s imagining all this. “How are we supposed to break the news to everyone else?”

Lance starts giggling. “Honestly? I don’t think we need to. They’ll probably figure it out before we even get the chance to tell them.”

“I think Hunk and Allura already know,” Keith admits, ducking his head a little to hide his smile.

They both jump slightly when there’s a buzz on Lance’s bedside table from his handheld. He reaches for it and looks down at the screen, his brow furrowing as he reads the message of interest. “Speaking of Allura.”

Keith peeks over his shoulder. “What is it?”

Lance sighs. “Remember I said she always tells me when she’s homesick?” Keith nods, and Lance drops his handheld onto the bed. “Well, she’s homesick. But she says she kind of just wants to be left alone, so she just wanted to let me know in case she doesn’t feel better in the morning.”  

“Oh.” Keith looks down for a second, and then timidly squeezes his hand. “Should we—should you go check on her?”

“No.” Lance shakes his head slowly. “I’m sure she’s just trying to go to sleep now. I just don’t like not being able to do anything about it.”

Keith is quiet for a minute, watching as Lance frowns down at his handheld. He thinks about what Adam told him just a couple days ago, about—showing him how he feels.

 _I don’t see why that shouldn’t apply here,_ he thinks. _To both of them._

He shifts a little. “I mean. We could do something.”

Lance tilts his head to look at him. “What?”

“For Allura, I mean.” Keith clears his throat. “To help her feel better. Like—I don’t know.”

Lance’s mouth curls up into an amused smile. “It’s almost one in the morning.”

“Like you’re planning on going to sleep any time soon,” Keith protests, and Lance snorts. “I’m just saying.”

“Okay then,” Lance allows, propping his chin in his hand. “What did you have in mind?”

Keith lets out a breath. “I don’t know,” he says again. “We could—make... cookies, or something.”

Lance’s eyes light up and he gasps, his grip tightening on Keith’s hand. “Wait, that’s perfect! Hunk said they bought some cookie mix and icing when they were at the store! We can decorate cookies like stuff that reminds her of home!”

“Oh—” Keith blinks at him. “So we’re actually doing cookies then.”

Lance is already pulling away and sliding off the bed. “Why are you surprised? It was your idea.”

Keith sits up and swings his legs over the side of the bed, watching as Lance pulls the hood over his head (which, unfair, why is that _still_ cute). “We’re making cookies at one in the morning?”

“Again, your idea.” Lance lowers his voice to a whisper as he opens the door. “C’mon, it’ll be fun!” Keith sighs a little, but a huge smile crosses Lance’s face when he dutifully pushes himself off the bed and joins him.

They quietly slip out into the hallway and sneak down the stairs to the kitchen, where Keith flicks the light on while Lance goes straight for the pantry to search for the cookie mix. “You don’t think they’re planning on using the cookies for something else, do you?”

“Other than being baked and eaten?” Lance says from inside the pantry. Keith goes to stand behind him and nearly gets smacked in the face when Lance sticks his arm out behind him with three packets of icing in his hand. “Here.” Keith takes the packets and tosses them onto the counter before he’s promptly handed three more, and then Lance makes a noise of triumph as he finally emerges from the pantry with the box of cookie mix. “We need a mixing bowl, stat. Also a cookie sheet.”

Between the two of them, it takes a few minutes of digging through all of the kitchen cabinets to find everything they need.

(“How do you not know where everything is? I thought you grew up with Adam.”

“I don’t know! He’s the one who did all the cooking, I never needed to know where everything is. And it’s not like I grew up _here—”_

“But wouldn’t he put everything in the same place like in his own kitchen—”

“I just told you—why would I know where anything is here if I don’t know where anything is at home!”

“Can’t you like—get into his head or something? If you were Adam, where would you put the measuring cups—”

“Yeah, right. Adam has a mind of his own, I wouldn’t want to get into his head even if I could.”

“Are you gonna help me look or do I have to do everything myself?”

“I _am—_ you know what, forget it.”)

Keith sets the oven to the designated temperature while Lance reads the ingredients from the back of the box of cookie mix, going back and forth between the pantry and the refrigerator to find everything they need.

“Okay, I think that’s everything.” He rubs his hands together excitedly as Keith joins him at the counter and peeks over his shoulder. “Baking cookies at one in the morning. It’s like our first date!”

Keith lets out a huff of laughter. “Dancing at the party doesn’t qualify as our first date?”

Lance waves a hand at him and tears open the box of cookie mix, dumping its contents into the bowl. “Our _official_ first date. The party doesn’t count, everyone else was there.”

“I mean, everyone else is technically here, too—”

“Jeez Keith, do you want us to have a first date or not?”

Keith just rolls his eyes and swipes the eggs from the counter as Lance goes to measure some water from the sink. They quickly mix all of the necessary ingredients together, Lance using his hands once it’s thickened into a dough and rolling up pieces of it into little balls while Keith sprays their cookie sheet (a tactic learned from the time Shiro tried to surprise Adam with cookies and they all got stuck to the sheet because he forgot the spray—one of the many reasons he’s no longer allowed in the kitchen). Once they’ve put the cookies into the oven, they hoist themselves up onto the counter and eat the rest of the dough from the bowl.

“Adam would kick me out of the cabin if he saw me eating raw cookie dough,” Keith says as he scrapes some from the bottom.

Lance snickers. “Good thing he’s not here then.” He covers his mouth to stifle a particularly loud laugh when Keith stuffs a big glob of dough into his own. “Anyone ever tell you that you’ve got a sweet tooth?”

Keith kicks at his leg and he snickers again. “Says the one who ate a whole pack of those ‘powdered sugar cookie things’ by himself.”

“That was different,” Lance sniffs. “I needed the sustenance, Keith. The brain food, if you will.”

“Mhm,” Keith agrees unconvincingly, pushing the bowl aside. “So what are we putting on these cookies again?”

Lance perks up. “A bunch of Altean stuff! We can decorate one to look like Altea, and then we can draw one of those juniberry flowers on one, and then—” He pauses.

Keith raises an eyebrow and he seems to deflate a little. “What?”

Lance’s shoulders slump a little. “Those are the only Altean things I can think of.”

“Oh.” Keith blinks, and then he brings his legs up and tucks his feet onto the counter. “Do we even know what Altea looked like?”

Lance shakes his head. “Not really.” They both stare at the oven across the kitchen. Lance sighs. “Maybe I didn’t think this through very well.”

They’re quiet for a moment, the cookies still baking slowly in the oven. Keith shifts a tiny bit. “We could call my mom.”

“Your m—” Lance snorts, and Keith wonders briefly if he should be offended. “What does your mom have to do with anything?”

“She’s back on the Altean colony with Coran and Romelle,” Keith explains. “I’m pretty sure it’s afternoon there.”

Lance’s eyes light up. “And they can tell us about more Altean stuff! Mullet, you’re a genius.”

Keith wrinkles his nose as he pulls his handheld from the pocket of his shorts. “You still have to call me that?”

“Of course I do,” Lance nods impatiently. “Are you calling her or what?” Keith rolls his eyes, but he makes the call and they sit there watching the screen as they wait for her to answer. Lance suddenly tenses, and Keith turns his head confusedly to look at him. “Wait. What if I get the mom talk—” And then Krolia’s face appears on the screen and Lance ducks away, the hood falling from his head as he does.

“Keith!” Krolia smiles from the screen. It looks like she’s outside somewhere, judging from the background. “I wasn’t expecting a call from you.”

Keith shoots an exasperated look at Lance before smiling back. “Hi, Mom.”

She squints a little. “Who is that with you? I thought I saw someone else just a moment ago.”

Lance winces and slowly comes back to peek at the screen next to Keith. “Hi, Krolia.”

“Ah.” Krolia looks far from surprised. “Hello, blue paladin.”

Keith lets out a breath. “He has a name, Mom.”

“I’m aware,” she says, her lips still quirked up into a knowing smile. “What’s the occasion?”

“Well—” Keith starts.

“KEITH, my boy!” The sound of Coran’s loud, boisterous voice startles all three of them as his face suddenly appears, his bushy mustache taking up half of the screen. “Oh, and Lance! How are things at—”

“Coran, shhh!” Lance waves wildly at the screen while Keith struggles to turn the volume down. “Not so loud! Everyone else is asleep.”

“Oh,” Coran’s voice quiets down to a loud whisper. “I see. What are you two up to in the wee hours of the morning? How’s Allura?”

Keith can’t help but let out an amused huff as Krolia shoulders her way back into sight beside Coran. He didn’t realize how much he missed his rambunctious personality. “Actually, that’s why we’re calling.”

Coran’s brow scrunches. “Is she alright?”

“She’s okay,” Lance assures him, propping his arm on Keith’s shoulder and leaning in so he can be seen, although Keith is pretty sure he’s very much avoiding eye contact with Krolia. “She’s just—”

“Who are you talking to?” A third voice can be heard somewhere in the background, and then Romelle’s face pops up between Krolia and Coran, her face immediately lighting up. “Keith!”

Keith feels a big smile crossing his face as he waves. “Hi, Romelle.”

“Did you see the necklace I made for Krolia?” She asks cheerfully, pointing at the the purple woven necklace hanging from Krolia’s neck that Keith hadn’t even noticed before, it blends so well with her Blade uniform. “I made one for you too when you come visit! I know you said that yellow is your favorite color—”

“Yellow’s your favorite color?” Lance mutters. Keith elbows him as Romelle goes on.

“—but I didn’t have any yellow materials so I just made orange, I hope that’s okay.”

“That’s perfect,” Keith nods appreciatively. “Thanks, Romelle. I can’t wait to wear it.”

She beams at him before Krolia redirects the conversation. “So, what about Allura?”

Keith takes note of the way Romelle’s smile falters the tiniest bit and she perks up. “Allura? Is she okay?”

“Allura’s fine,” Lance assures again. “She’s just been feeling a little homesick, so we’re making cookies to cheer her up in the morning. We wanted to decorate them with a bunch of Altean stuff, but our knowledge is sort of—limited.”

“Then you’ve come to the right place,” Coran says proudly, straightening his posture. “I hope you two have good memory—”

“I can probably sketch some things out if you describe them to me,” Keith interrupts. Lance snorts, and Keith shoots him a look. “What?”

“Aren’t you forgetting something?” Lance asks. Keith just blinks at him, and he raises both eyebrows. “Uh, the game show?”

“Wh—” Keith splutters a tiny bit. “I can draw! The game show was completely different! We were in a time crunch, sorry I didn’t have time to draw a super detailed self-portrait of an Arusian—”

“That thing looked _nothing_ like an Arusian—”

“Yes it did! Allura got it! You’re just—a bad guesser!”

“Am not! Your Haggar drawing legitimately looked like a cave—”

“That was her hood!”

“Then what was that jagged thing coming out of it?”

“Her _nose!”_

They both quickly snap their attention back to Keith’s handheld when Krolia clears her throat, her eyes glittering with amusement. “Did you need anything else?”

“Nope,” Keith says quickly.

“In that case, I have a few things to attend to,” Krolia continues. “So I’ll leave the rest of you to it.” She smiles fondly. “I hope you’re having a good time, Keith.”

Keith can’t really help himself from smiling back. “Thanks, Mom.”

There’s a bit of rustling as she passes her own handheld over to Coran, and then her face appears once more. “Goodbye, Lance.”

Lance starts. “Uh—bye, Miss—er, Krolia.”

Krolia’s eyes flick back toward Keith again, and she smiles in a way that makes Keith’s cheeks burn before finally disappearing for good. “So!” Coran starts twirling a finger through his mustache, oblivious. “Where should we start?”

Keith ends up drawing things out on unfolded napkins using a pencil he managed to find in a kitchen drawer, his handheld propped in front of him where he’s slipping into a stool underneath the counter. Lance watches curiously as he sketches everything according to Coran’s and Romelle’s instruction, both of them throwing out various Altean plants and animals. At some point Lance disappears to get the cookies out of the oven, leaving them on the counter to cool before coming back to sit beside Keith and resting his chin on his shoulder as he continues to work.

Romelle describes what Altea looked like in great detail, Coran chipping in every once in a while when he felt necessary. By the time it’s all said and done, Keith has three napkins’ worth of sketches for him and Lance to work with.

“Okay, I think that should do it,” Keith says, before Coran can get too carried away. “Thanks guys. We owe you one.”

“Of course, my boy!” Coran responds happily. “Tell the others I said hello! And tell Allura that everything is running quite smoothly back here. Nothing to worry about.” His expression softens a bit. “And tell her I hope she’s feeling better soon.”

“Will do,” Keith nods, glancing over at Lance, who’s busy inspecting their napkins.

“Oh, and—Keith?” Keith looks back at the screen, where Romelle is looking hopefully over Coran’s shoulder. “Would you—well—” She pokes her index fingers together and Keith swears that her cheeks are a little pinker than usual. “Will you tell Allura I said—I miss her but I hope she’s having a good time.”

Keith bites his lip a little to keep himself from smiling too much. “Sure thing, Romelle.”

They all say goodbye, and then Keith ends the call and sets his handheld down to see Lance holding up one of the napkins to get a closer look at it, looking a bit incredulous. “You can draw?”

Keith snorts and snatches it away. “C’mon, it’s almost two and we still have two pans of cookies to decorate.”

The first couple of cookies are—not great. It takes a bit of practice for the both of them to get used to handling the icing packets, but after that it’s smooth sailing. Lance does pretty well on his own, but Keith ends up decorating the majority of the cookies from the first pan simply because Lance keeps pausing to watch him.

(“I’m just impressed, okay? I didn’t realize I was signing up to date an artist.”

“Is that a bad thing—”

“No it’s not a bad thing, you absolute buffoon—”)

Keith doesn’t mind the staring so much after that, even if it makes his cheeks warm.

His handheld buzzes at some point. Krolia’s must have been returned to her, because when he glances at it he sees a message from her.

 

 **Krolia:** happy for you :)

 

Keith lets out a quiet huff of exasperation and glances in Lance’s direction, but he’s too busy with his cookie to pay attention now.

 

 **Keith K:** no idea what you’re talking about

 

He sighs a little, and then types out another message.

 

 **Keith K:** thanks mom

 

Halfway through the second pan, it’s becoming clear that Lance is getting too tired to function. Especially when he nearly smacks his face into the iced portion when he starts to nod off.

“Lance, just go to bed. I can finish the rest.”

Lance stubbornly shakes his head and glares determinedly at the cookie he’s working on. “M’not tired.”

“You always say that,” Keith sighs.

“I don’t wanna leave you down here by yourself,” Lance protests.

Keith points his icing packet toward the living room. “Then go sit on the couch or something. You’re gonna squish all our cookies.”

Lance makes a sort of groaning noise, but he relents. “Just don’t leave me there.”

“I won’t leave you there,” Keith promises, moving on to his next cookie as Lance begrudgingly leaves his icing packet on the counter and pulling the hood back up over his head as he trudges into the living room and flops onto the couch.

It doesn’t take Keith too much longer to finish up. He puts a few finishing touches onto anything he thinks needs it before decorating the last cookie to look just like Altea, sitting back when it’s done to examine their handiwork. His handheld reads 2:57 AM when he taps it. “Not bad,” he murmurs to himself.

Lance is slumped back on the couch when Keith makes his way into the living room. He tugs on his sleeve. “Lance, they’re done. Let’s go back upstairs.”

“Can’t move,” Lance mumbles without opening his eyes. “Too tired.”

Keith lets out a huff of laughter. “Yes you can.”

“Just leave me here.”

“I thought you told me _not_ to leave you down here.”

“Changed my mind.”

Keith sighs, and then sinks onto the couch beside him, pulling on his arm. “C’mon, Lance.”

Lance just curls his arms around Keith’s and hugs it to his side, resting his head on his shoulder, and it takes Keith by surprise until it strikes him that now this is—normal, for them. Or at least, it’s going to be.  Getting there. It’s going to take him a bit to get used to. “Couch is comfy.”

Keith sighs again, but he lets himself relax against the cushions, hesitating only momentarily before he rests his head in Lance’s hair. “We’ll be pretty obvious if someone comes down in the morning and sees us.”

“We’ll probably be up before then,” Lance mumbles sleepily. “Everyone’s tired from the party.”

“I guess,” Keith allows, his eyes slowly falling closed.

He doesn’t even remember falling asleep. Just that he wakes up to the sun shining through the window on the other side of the room, and the smell of coffee. He’s vaguely aware of Lance’s warmth pressed against his side, and Lance’s hair tickling his neck and cheek—wait.

Keith jolts awake.

The smell of coffee, which means—

Keith twists around on the couch to see Adam in the kitchen, back turned as he moves about. And it’s not like he and Lance have decided to keep their newly established relationship a secret—in fact, they essentially decided against that—but he still kind of panics at the idea of being caught off guard. He shakes his arm still in Lance’s grasp. “Lance,” he whispers. Lance doesn’t stir, and as cute as he looks in Keith’s hoodie, with the hood still half covering his head and brown curls peeking out from underneath, Keith resorts to smacking at his chest.

Lance startles awake. “Wh—”

He’s lucid enough that his mouth snaps shut when Keith waves wildly at him to stay quiet, then points back at the kitchen. Lance blinks and confusedly follows his line of sight. His reaction seems similar to Keith’s his face paling slightly at the sight of Adam before his head snaps back toward Keith, eyes wide.

“What do we do?” he mouths.

“I don’t know!” Keith mouths back.

“Maybe he hasn’t seen us yet.”

“We’re in the direct line of sight from the stairs, he literally couldn’t have missed us—”

“It’s the morning!” Lance pulls away from Keith enough to wave his arms a little. “He’s tired! He wears glasses, maybe he wasn’t paying attention and didn’t see!”

“Do I need to remind you that this is _Adam_ we’re talking about?”

“So what, you just want to sit here and wait until he comes in—”

The sound of Adam clearing his throat on Keith’s side of the couch interrupts their silent whispering war. They both freeze in place, staring at each other for a moment before slowly turning to look at Adam, who’s standing there in the living room stirring a spoon in his freshly made mug of coffee.

He smiles much too casually for Keith’s liking. “Good morning.”

“Morning,” Keith says weakly.

He and Lance share a nervous look but stay rooted in their spots as Adam moves further into the room and goes to sit on the coffee table in front of them. It’s quiet except for the sound of Adam’s spoon clinking against his mug as he makes himself comfortable, crossing one leg over the other. His glasses fog a little as he blows away some steam. “So.”

Lance tenses beside Keith. “Oh no,” he breathes. “It’s happening.”

Adam just stirs his coffee some more. “Do I need to give you the Adam talk?”

 _“Adam,”_ Keith hisses, his face burning as Lance seems to shrink back into the couch. “Oh my god, you’re so embarrassing—”

“I’m joking,” Adam snorts, lowering his mug. “Relax. I’m just glad you two have finally worked it out.”

“Thanks,” Lance squeaks as Keith drags a hand down his face.

Adam smiles again. Keith would throw something at him if there were anything to throw within his reach. “I’m assuming this isn’t how you were expecting to tell anyone.”

“Actually, we figured it would pretty much go exactly like this,” Keith retorts, crossing his arms over his chest.

Adam just points back into the kitchen. “What’s with the cookies?”

“Cookies?” Lance echoes. He and Keith both turn to look over the couch and see their two trays of decorated cookies still lying there on the counter. Lance gasps. “Cookies! We have to see if Allura’s awake!”

Keith whips back to look at Adam. “What time is it?”

Adam looks suddenly confused. “About nine thirty—”

“She’s usually awake by now,” Lance nods. “Let’s go get her.”

They both leap up from the couch and dart across the living room for the stairs, leaving behind a very puzzled-looking Adam. “You’re sure she’ll be awake?” Keith asks quietly, as they make it to the top of the steps and start past their own rooms. “It was pretty late when she texted you.”

Lance shrugs. “Even if she’s not, there’s only one way to find out.”

Keith falls behind a little when they reach Allura’s room, Lance pausing in front of her door and glancing back once before knocking softly. They wait. Keith hears some rustling and maybe a little sniffling before Allura’s timid voice comes through. “Come in.”

Lance carefully twists the doorknob and cracks the door open so they can both peek inside. “Allura?”

Allura is perched on the edge of her bed in her pajamas, knees tucked up to her chest and arms folded over them. Her eyes are rimmed with red like she’s been crying, and they widen a tiny bit when she sees them. “Oh—um, hello—”

“Allura,” Lance says gently, and then he swings the door open and hurries to sit by her side as Keith follows, closing the door behind them.

There are already more tears welling Allura’s eyes as Lance wraps an arm around her shoulders, brow scrunched in concern while Keith sits on her other side. “I’m sorry,” she huffs shakily, sniffing a little. “I thought I would feel better when I woke up, but—”

“You don’t have to apologize,” Lance stops her. “Really. We just want to help.”

She wipes at her face as she blinks the fresh tears out of her eyes. “It’s silly.”

Keith’s heart clenches with sympathy and he shifts a little to better face her. “It’s not silly, Allura,” he says softly.

“I just—” She sighs and lets herself lean a little into Lance’s side. “Everyone must be exhausted of hearing me talk about my father, but—” More tears find their way into her eyes and she squeezes them shut as her voice wobbles. “I miss him so much. I miss him, _and_ my mother, and—” Lance and Keith share a worried look over her head as she lets out a little sob. “I don’t know what I’m supposed to do. I know they would want me to move on, but—I couldn’t possibly ever _stop_ missing them.”

Lance squeezes her a little tighter as she wipes at her face again, and Keith looks down at his hands in his lap. They’re all quiet for a moment, other than Allura’s occasional sniffles and the sound of Lance’s arm rubbing her back in soothing circles.

Keith clears his throat. “I miss my pa sometimes.”

He doesn’t realize how quiet it’s gotten until he looks back up to see both Lance and Allura staring at him. Allura sniffs again. “Your father?” she asks quietly.

Keith nods, feeling a little self-conscious from the sudden attention. “He died when I was pretty young. Ran into a burning house and didn’t come back out.”

Allura reaches over to place a hand on his. “Keith—I had no idea.”

“Not like it was ever relevant,” Keith shrugs, offering a small smile. “And I’m not trying to make this about me or anything,” he adds quickly. “Just—I get it. It’s hard when you miss someone you can’t get back. Honestly, I don’t know that it ever gets any easier.” He can feel Lance’s curious eyes on him as he squeezes Allura’s hand. “But that’s what makes the people you do have so important. I lost my pa, but I got Shiro and Adam. And eventually, you guys.” He meets Lance’s gaze for a moment, his heart fluttering a little when Lance smiles at him. “So—you might never stop missing your parents, but you have us to help you through it.”

A slow, thankful smile starts to cross Allura’s face. She wipes the rest of the water underneath her eyes, laughing a little. “And you say you’re not good at talking to people.”

“I’m really not,” Keith assures her, and she laughs some more when Lance snorts.

“Thank you,” she says, beaming at him before looking back at Lance. “Both of you. You didn’t have to come to see me.”

“Actually,” Lance smiles at Keith again over Allura’s head. “We have something to show you.”

Apparently everyone else had dragged themselves out of bed during the time they were in Allura’s room, because when the three of them come down the stairs, everyone is scattered about the kitchen and sitting at the table with an assorted selection of breakfast foods. Shiro and Pidge are at the counter, peering down at the cookies with interest.

Lance squawks at them. “Back off, you fiends! You can look, but you can’t touch!”

“We weren’t—” Pidge starts, but Lance just shoos them away, Shiro laughing as he does.

Everyone wanders over in curiosity as Keith and Lance bring Allura to the counter, standing back to let her look at the cookies. She gasps when she sees them. “Lance, Keith—you made these?”

“Well—” Lance rubs the back of his neck. “It was mostly Keith, if we’re being honest.”

“But how—”

“We called my mom,” Keith explains, smiling a little as her eyes dart around the pans, taking in all of the decorations on each one. “Coran and Romelle described all these Altean things to us so we could draw them.”

Allura is quiet for a moment, everyone waiting for some kind of reaction—and then she wheels around and pulls both Keith and Lance into a tight hug, squeezing them together and reminding Keith how much stronger she is than she looks. “They’re beautiful,” she says happily, pressing a kiss to each of their cheeks. “I can’t tell you how much this means to me. I appreciate you both so much.”

Hunk can’t wait any longer. “I don’t really know what’s happening but I can’t be left out of this. Group hug!” And then everyone crowds in on them, laughing as they all throw their arms around each other and squeeze. Keith can barely breathe, but he thinks it’s probably worth it if it’s making Allura feel better.

“By the way,” he lowers his voice so only Allura can hear when everyone finally pulls away. “Romelle says she misses you.”

Her cheeks turn pink, but she smiles hopefully. “Really?” Her smile grows when he nods, and then she squishes him into another hug before they join everyone else for breakfast.

“So Keith,” Shiro says, as he’s pouring himself an enormous bowl of Lucky Charms (Adam just sighs at him). “Did you have fun last night?”

It takes every muscle in Keith’s body to keep himself from rolling his eyes, because he knows exactly where this conversation is headed. Lance seems to be just as suspicious, because he squints at Shiro from beside him. “Number one, I’m not sure why you felt the need to ask me that, and number two, you already asked me last night.”

Shiro shrugs. “I mean, you never explicitly told me whether or not you had fun—”

“Yes,” Keith says loudly, and Pidge snickers from his other side. “I had a great time, Shiro. Thank you for asking.”

“I’m glad you had a great time,” Shiro nods sincerely. There’s a pause, and for a second Keith thinks maybe Shiro’s letting him off the hook until he speaks again. “What made it such a great time—”

Adam snorts into his coffee as Keith lets his spoon hit the table with a loud clatter. “Get to the point, Shiro.”

They engage in an intense twenty-second staring match before Shiro finally gives in. “Adam and I saw you and Lance dancing last night.”

“We all did,” Pidge clarifies unhelpfully.

Adam nods in agreement. “You two seemed awful close there at the end—”

“Okay!” Lance interrupts as Keith sinks in his seat, his face reddening. “If you all _must_ know, Keith and I danced last night at the party and we had a _great_ time and we’re officially together now, which means—” He points threateningly at both Hunk and Pidge. “—you guys can cool it with the teasing.”

“Oh, the teasing only gets worse from here,” Adam assures him, and Keith groans.

“I’m just really happy for you guys,” Hunk says cheerfully.

“As am I,” Allura agrees, a huge smile on her face. “Better late than never, as I believe the saying goes.”

Keith pinches the bridge of his nose. “Why are we all talking about this?”

Pidge takes a big bite of her cereal. “I’m just glad I don’t have to deal with you guys staring longingly at each other all the time anymore.”

“Oh my god,” Keith mutters into his hands as Lance squawks indignantly.

Shiro gasps a little, putting a hand on Adam’s shoulder and making him jump slightly. “Adam! Double dates!”

Keith’s head snaps up as Pidge and Allura burst into giggles. “Absolutely not.”

Lance leans over. “Wait, but that could be really fun actually—”

“Can we please change the subject,” Keith begs. His handheld starts to buzz in his pocket, and he pulls it out to see Krolia’s name flash across the screen. Everyone else watches, entertained, as he pushes himself away from the table. “Oh, would you look at that! Krolia’s calling. Very important call, shouldn’t miss this, gotta go.”

“Tell her I said hi!” Shiro calls after him as he slips away and dashes upstairs to his room. He feels a little bad for leaving Lance to fend for himself. Only a little.

He lets out a breath as he closes his door and answers the call, pressing the handheld to his ear. “You’ve never had better timing.”

“Hello to you too,” Krolia responds, amusement ringing in her voice. “Should I call later?”

Keith shakes his head as he sits on his bed, even though she can’t see him. “It’s fine. We’re just eating breakfast.”

She hums. “We’re getting ready to call it a day over here.”

“Everything’s going okay?”

“It’s taking a while to construct the inner city, but it’s coming along,” she says. “Should be finished within the next phoeb or so.”

“That’s good to hear.” Keith picks at his sheets. “Is… there a specific reason you called?” Krolia is silent for a moment on the other end. Keith stills. “Wait—”

“When was I going to hear the news about you and Lance?”

“Mom,” Keith groans, Krolia chuckling in his ear as he falls onto his back with a muffled thump. “This is exactly what I was trying to get away from.”

He can hear the smile in her voice. “You can’t blame me for being curious. How long?”

Keith sighs, but he figures he might as well just get this over with. “It—just happened. As in, not even twenty-four hours ago.”

She huffs. “Took you both a while, didn’t it?”

“Wh—” Keith splutters a little, and then he cuts himself off and pushes his hair out of his face. “You know what, I’m not even going to ask what you mean by that.” She laughs again, and he can’t help but smile. “How did you know, anyway?”

Krolia doesn’t respond right away. Keith rolls over onto his stomach as he waits, a bit of static buzzing in his ear. He briefly wonders how in the world they have a connection so far away from one another. “I think—” Krolia starts, and then she pauses again. “You just seemed—happy.”

Keith laughs a little. “I think we argued the entire time you were there.”

“It reminded me of your father and me.”

Keith feels himself falter a little. “Oh.” It’s quiet again, for a moment. He slowly pushes himself back up into a sitting position, light static crackling again in his ear. He hadn’t really expected to be talking about his dad again so soon after bringing him up only half an hour earlier. “Hey, Mom?” he asks, as if to make sure she’s still there. She hums, and Keith bites his lip a little as he looks down at the floor. “Do you ever miss him?”

He expects her to take a bit longer to answer, but she just laughs softly. “Of course I do.” Another brief second of quiet. “I still miss you, sometimes.”

“Only sometimes?”

She huffs another laugh, and Keith finds himself smiling. “You know what I mean, Keith.”

“Yeah.” Keith wiggles his toes a little and takes a breath. “I know what you mean.”

And yet another moment of silence falls between them, but it’s—comfortable. Understanding. Keith is quietly disappointed when he hears Krolia breathe out. “I suppose I should let you get back to the others. I need to be getting to sleep, too.”

“Okay.” Keith taps his feet on the floor. “Shiro says hi, by the way.”

“Tell him I said hello back.”

“I will. I hope you sleep well.”

“Thank you, Keith. I love you.”

A pleasing feeling of warmth blooms in Keith’s chest, and his lips twitch up into a smile.

“Love you too, Mom.”

**Author's Note:**

> (don't worry... that letter/list that keith started in the last prompt? it'll be mentioned again soon hehe)  
> cato if you're reading this you're responsible for the soft keith/krolia interaction at the end that i wish i could spend more time on rip i love them
> 
> come say hi on [tumblr](https://www.taxashi.tumblr.com)!  
> 


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